Later today, something new, important and exciting coming to my digital universe: The Loving Animals Group At Bedlam Farm, a subset of bedlamfarm.com and my Facebook page devoted to writing, thinking, photography drawings and ideas about our love for animals. Members will be accepted slowly and evenly, not in a huge rush. The content of this page – people can join by clicking on the “Loving Animals Group At Bedlam Farm” button on the left side of my Facebook page, this button will appear later this afternoon – will be open to Facebook and the wider world. No privacy here, do not publish anything you do not wish to see shared. Membership is closed, but access to content is not restricted.

Please do not e-mail or message me about the group, I can’t handle the messages I get now. Just apply.  I imagine the group will grow to quite a large number over the next few months. Some guidelines: this is not an animal rescue site, not a grieving site, not a cute animal bulletin board site. All of those subjects are appropriate and acceptable,but there are many sites online devoted to those subjects.

What I hope will make this site unique is that it will be come a thoughtful, fun, honest, and yes, occasionally sad, forum to celebrate and explore our love for animals, something almost everyone reading this shares. That means photos, blogs, essays, thoughts. No arguments or hostility will be tolerated, civil disagreements are welcome, but I doubt there will be many of those…everyone on the site loves animals or we wouldn’t be there.

I do not want the site to be about warnings – I don’t want to see photos of dead and abused or suffocated animals unless it has some relevance and thoughtfulness around our theme which is really very simple. Warnings about food, overheated cars or the  many other alarms that flood the animals sites of the Internet are not welcome here.

The topics are our love of animals, why we love them, how we love them, how they love us back. Memories and reminiscences are very welcome. Postings should center on those ideas. I believe it is a joy and a privilege to have a pet, to love an animal, it is nothing but a gift to me. If you think it is primarily a sad or tragic thing, if you are seeking sympathy and comfort,  this is not the group for you, and me and the other administrators will be very quick to remove people who do not follow these guidelines. We are not a therapy group, but a community coming together to celebrate or love of animals.

I will also be adding two new small and restricted groups – one for workshops on blogs, one for photography. More on that later.

I want this site to be different, creative, touching and thoughtful. As the members of the Open Arts Group can tell you, we are serious about these guidelines, membership is a privilege, not a birthright. These sites are expensive to create and maintain, and I appreciate your subscriptions to this blog, they pay for the blog, my work, my time, my writing and photos and for the Open Groups.

If you are using these sites, or enjoy reading their contents, I would ask you to consider helping to pay for them, and thanks. If you can’ t pay, they are free. Subscriptions can be canceled at any time. Credit cards as well as Paypal are now accepted.

The group titles will appear later today, around mid-afternoon. You can apply then if you wish, this will be exciting and fun. I’m psyched.